Nine cities in Riverside County have decided to participate in a feasibility study to determine whether it might be more cost-effective to form an independent police agency instead of continuing to contract with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. We appreciate the cities doing their due diligence, and we hope the county interprets this move as added pressure to control costs.

Coachella, Jurupa Valley, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Perris, San Jacinto, Temecula and Wildomar have faced unsustainable contract cost increases, virtually all of which is due to overly generous raises to Sheriff’s Department employees by the county since the recession. Of them, San Jacinto has unsuccessfully floated tax hikes on two occasions to offset the increases, while Temecula also has explored the possibility.

The nine cities were previously joined by three cities – Canyon Lake, Calimesa and Eastvale – which backed out, while five other cities didn’t find it necessary to join the study. Among the latter group, La Quinta has contemplated a slew of tax and fee hikes, mostly due to the cost of Sheriff’s services. Among the former group, Eastvale quickly dropped out after deciding the prospect of a joint powers authority might be too burdensome to be worth pursuing.

Common to all of the cities, however, has been steep increases in contract rates generally exceeding revenue growth, especially with ongoing contracts with Sheriff’s Department employees approved since 2012. Cities have been forced to either cut policing services, non-public safety services or both. In this context, these pressures make it perfectly sensible for cities to look into alternatives.

What is less clear is whether anything the cities can come up with could possibly rival the Sheriff’s Department. The economies of scale alone make it difficult to imagine that a JPA could be competitive. But sorting that out is the purpose of the study.

Fundamentally, what everyone is looking for is the ability to provide policing services without breaking the bank. One critical thing to keep an eye on is whether the county is able to convince unions representing Sheriff’s employees that annual raises of 7 percent to 11 percent can’t continue to go on. Another is whether anything substantive comes of the county-commissioned review of public safety services, expected by the end of the month.

As public safety services, and particularly policing, make up majorities or at least pluralities of local government budgets, it is important that all parties involved get this right.